


Food

by annelea



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-31 02:52:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6452557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annelea/pseuds/annelea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asuma sees some strange behavior from Kakashi, but it gives him hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Food

Asuma watched the way Kakashi's eye followed the shoppers at the open air market. He scanned over the top of the pages of Icha Icha slowly. Rather than turn his head when the target moved out of range, Kakashi adjusted his stance just a little. Confounded as to what could hold the man's attention like that, Asuma finally followed his gaze.

Was that Naruto he was watching so intently? Uzumaki Naruto? Why?

Kakashi sighed, put his book away, and started putting items into his own cart. Vegetables, fruits, and solid cuts of meat, special ordered. The thing was, Kurenai had mentioned running into Kakashi yesterday and said he'd bought enough for the month already.

Then, it clicked.

Naruto.

The kid had been taken care of by many people for short periods of time. He was never, actually, taught what to eat and why. If Naruto wanted to follow through with being a ninja, he had to eat a higher protein diet, but one balanced out with other vitamins. All that cup ramen wasn't going to cut it, even if it was the cheapest and probably the only thing Naruto could really afford to live off of.

So, was Kakashi cooking for him?

He had never had a hand in raising Naruto, Asuma knew, so it wasn't likely that he was inviting the thirteen-year-old over for dinner just because he was now Kakashi's student. Curious, Asuma kept his distance, did his shopping, went home, and then tracked Kakashi back down at the other Jonin's apartment. Looking through the window, he could see Kakashi's kitchen was torn apart, pots and pans all over the place. All four burners on the stove were lit up, and he was placing a large, deep baking dish into the oven. Asuma watched until the large meal was finished, then saw Kakashi put most of it into the freezer, eat some himself, then package a portion into a couple rinsed out carry out containers.

Asuma dropped back as Kakashi exited the building, then took off in a new direction. His first stop was at another apartment building near-by. A hand painted Uchiha crest adorned the door where he set the first container. Ah, so that's one question answered. The second stop, however, wasn't at another residence. It was at Ichiraku Ramen.

The owner was putting things up for the night when Kakashi interrupted him.

"He'll be here soon. Thank you, Hatake-san." the old man smiled.

Now, Asuma imagined Kakashi would go back home for the night, but he was wrong. Kakashi had one more stop to make. He traveled twice as far to observe a civilian home. This one Asuma already knew to be the Haruno residence. Asuma knew that Haruno Sakura and his own student, Ino, were in a silly competition for the heart of Uchiha Sasuke. Right now, the girls were competing through extreme dieting. Tonight, Sakura only ate about a quarter of the bountiful plate her parents set before her, and Kakashi let out an exasperated sigh.

Before the girl went to her room, Kakashi slipped up the wall outside and left what looked to be a package of pills on her pillow case. Most likely, they were supplements and a soldier pill.

That's when it hit Asuma. Kakashi was hard on the kids, harder than any other jonin-sensei was, but he loved them. Finally, Asuma got to see that Kakashi wasn't the anti-social hard-ass deep down. He genuinely cared for the health of his students, and he loved them enough to provide for them when they couldn't - or wouldn't in Sakura's case - provide for themselves.

Kakashi gave him a wave when he turned around, finally on his way home. Asuma just waved back and gave a nod. Of course Kakashi had known he was being watched all afternoon and evening. How could Asuma think otherwise?


End file.
